


Someone Else

by fieryslytherin



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, i've been working on this for too long but like, this was drafted pre season 2, too late to turn back now, yeah i know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2018-09-21 05:20:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9533549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fieryslytherin/pseuds/fieryslytherin
Summary: Adrien and Marinette are dating, even though they still don't know each other's alter egos. Everything seems wonderful from Adrien's perspective, but Marinette isn't so sure. She has feeling for someone else, Chat Noir. So she breaks up with Adrien.Now the two find themselves in the weirdest love square of their lives as they each try to fight for love. Adrien even goes to the lengths of using his alter ego. Will it blow up in their faces as they try to navigate the slippery slope of love? And what will happen when the press gets involved?





	1. Out of the Blue

“We need to break up,” The words were so foreign to Adrien that he didn’t understand the words at first. When the words finally penetrated his skull he felt his heart sink into his stomach. He and Marinette had been dating for several months, and all had seemed blissful to Adrien. There had been nothing wrong with their relationship. In fact, the two were seen as the school’s power couple, practically inseparable from each other. 

* * *

 

It had all started about 6 months ago when Adrien had asked Marinette out after his alter ego had been rejected by Ladybug for the thousandth time. He had been pursuing Ladybug since they had become partners, but it was clear that there was someone else that Ladybug cared for. Something inside Adrien snapped as he realized that his pursuit of Ladybug was pointless. No matter how hard he pushed she would never seem him as anything more than a partner. So he had moved on. He let his heart let go of any feelings he might have had for ladybug, and when he did he realized that he also had feelings for someone else-- Marinette. He had never noticed his feelings for her before, but without Ladybug taking all of his heart’s attention it was there as plain as day. When she entered the classroom, Adrien would feel his heart do somersaults. Every time she smiled or even breathed it felt like she had taken his heart away. The way he felt for Marinette felt very similar for the way he had once felt for Ladybug, but it was also entirely different. Where his feelings for Ladybug had been a constant fire raging in his soul, his feelings for Marinette felt like they were coming out of nowhere. An explosion that threatened to take over his body and soul. There was still a piece of his heart that would love his partner of 4 years, but he had fallen for another dark haired beauty. It was like he was about to reach a breaking point if he didn’t ask her out soon.

Yet Adrien knew he needed to be cautious, After the rejection he had faced from Ladybug he was afraid to face it again. So he tried to hold off his feelings for Marinette, but it didn’t work. Every day he would come to class only to lose control of his mind as it was again consumed by the thought of Marinette. One day the thoughts were too consuming. It was lunch and he was sitting with Nino, Alya and-- of course-- Marinette. Nino and Alya were busy fighting or flirting about something. It was hard to tell with the two of them sometimes, plus Adrien was too busy trying to avoid dissolving into putty whenever Marinette glanced his way. In one moment their eyes connected and Adrien felt a current of electricity flow through his body. She held his gaze for a moment before looking away, her cheeks slightly flushed.  _ How the hell does she look so cute when she is embarrassed?  _ Adrien questioned to himself. Her palm was pressed up against her neck as she looked at the ground with a conviction to not look at Adrien. All of her conviction was for naught when two seconds later her eyes quickly flitted towards Adrien and away again.

That was the moment that made Adrien crack. Before his brain even processed what he was doing the words fell out of his mouth, “Marinette will you go out with me?” He felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest with anxiety. He looked at those sitting at his table of the table. Marinette was frozen in place, as if she had become a statue. Her eyes locked on Adrien. Alya’s mouth was hanging open, whatever she had been saying would never be completed. She was staring at Marinette expectantly, as if Alya already knew the answer. Nino, in turn, was looking at Adrien with his eyes squinted in confusion. He could almost hear nino mumbling ‘bro’ under his breath. 

Adrien turned his eyes back to Marinette, who looked like she would need an electric shock to bring her back life at this point. Everyone at the table was silent, waiting for Marinette’s answer. In turn the girl simply sat there, no doubt completely embarrassed. As the silence stretched on Adrien began to regret asking the question more and more.  _ What if she rejects me just like Ladybug rejected Chat? What if this is my curse, to be rejected by the girls I love?  _ Adrien thought to himself. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, feeling his face turn a shade of pink. Alya eyed Adrien and must have picked up on his uncomfortableness because she quickly nudged Marinette, bringing the girl back to reality.

“I-I-I-I-I” Marinette tried to say something, but she sounded like a broken record that had gotten stuck on one track. Alya nudged Marinette again, harder this time, and finally Marinette was able to speak. “I would love to,” She replied. A smile spread across her face, cheeks still flushed.

They had gone on their first date that night. They went to the park for a picnic, Nino and Alya grinning at the two of them the entire date. The two spent the date feeling uncomfortable the whole time as it felt like two cheshire cats were grinning at them over a pile of potato salad. So Adrien and Marinette tried again the following night, this time alone. They went to an art museum where Marinette jumped excitedly from picture to picture, and Adrien hardly looked at anything besides Marinette the whole night. By their third date Adrien kissed her for the first time. After they kissed he thought that Marinette’s soul was going to leave her body. She seemed so flustered Adrien thought he might have permanently broken her. As they went on more and more dates, Adrien found himself falling more and more for Marinette. By their sixth date-- baking cookies at her family’s bakery-- Adrien had completely forgotten about Ladybug. 

He still fought akumas with Ladybug, and was still happy to fight side by side with his partner. However, all of his flirtatious antics were gone. He stopped looking in awe at Ladybug, and started seeing her as nothing more than a colleague. As his distance from Ladybug grew, so did his love for Marinette. He was happy. It was a new kind of happiness that he hadn’t felt before. Everything seemed perfect, and he thought that their relationship would last forever. That is, he thought it would last forever until the day that Marinette broke up with him.

She had been distant all day, Adrien had just chalked it up to the fact that she had been up all night working on her latest design project. When she said she wanted to talk to him, he thought nothing of it. Until she said those fateful words. “We need to break up.” She announced. Adrien felt his breath leave his lungs.  

“I don’t.... Understand,” I replied. He felt broken, why would Marinette want to break up. The two of them had been so happy.

Marinette sighed, there was pain in her eyes. “Adrien I just don’t think this is working. I feel like I’m faking my way through this relationship, and I don’t want to do that to you.” 

“What do you mean Marinette? Was it something I said? Was it something I did? Just tell me and I’ll apologize, and I’ll never do it again.” He replied, desperate to save their relationship. Even as he said those words he knew there was nothing to be done. Her heart was no longer his.

“No you didn’t do anything wrong. You are amazing Adrien,” She placed her hand on his cheek, “My heart just doesn’t feel right being with you.” There were tears in her eyes. Adrien felt like he was being torn apart.  He gave her a dejected look as she removed her hand from his cheek. Adrien felt tears come to his eyes as she turned to walk away.

“Marinette wait,” He called after her and she stopped to look at him. “Is it... Is there someone else?” Adrien asked.

Marinette didn’t respond for the longest time. When she did her voice sounded broken and unsure. “Yes, but he doesn’t know I like him.” 

Adrien sighed sadly, “Do you mind if I ask who it is that captured your heart?” He didn’t expect an answer, as again Marinette was silent. Yet she did respond, obviously she still trusted Adrien enough to tell him.

“Chat Noir,” She replied, “I like Chat Noir.”


	2. Jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette deals with the break up.

When Adrien first asked Marinette out she couldn’t help but think it was too good to be true. She had dreamed about him saying those words that she had come to accept that that was the only place where he would ask her out-- her dreams. So she had been so shocked she didn’t know how to respond at first. It wasn’t until Alya knocked her back into her senses that she happily said yes to a date. Then she said yes to another date, and another date. Then Adrien kissed her and it felt like her world had gone up in fireworks. Everything seemed perfect, like her life finally made sense. She felt like she was changing as a person, she had become better because of Adrien. Somehow, she had reached her happy ending and for a time she was happy. That is she was until she realized Chat Noir had stopped flirting with her. She first noticed there was something off about Chat Noir during an akuma attack not that long after her first kiss with Adrien. 

Screams came from the street as Ladybug tried to assess the situation. She wasn’t sure how she was going to beat this akuma. The man was covered head to toe in porcupine spike that would shoot out on command. She couldn’t even tell where the akuma was. What she really needed was a second pair of eyes, she needed Chat. As if she had summoned him Chat Noir landed next to her and gave her a curt smile before looking down at the street. “So what are we looking at here Ladybug?” He asked. His voice didn’t even have a hint of flirtatiousness in it. Writing it off as concern for the situation Ladybug quickly explained the situation and her plan. Chat nodded once at her and then leapt into action. The cat hadn’t even stopped to look at her in awe or drop a cheesy pun. Instead he had just jumped into battle. Chat seemed off during the whole fight. He wasn’t his normal flirtatious self that Ladybug had come to be comfortable with. He still found chances to make smalltalk with her, but it was a lot more professional. There was no flirting involved. Suddenly the biggest annoyance to her newly formed relationship had finally gotten the hint and stopped flirting with her. She no longer needed to worry about him. Ladybug should have been relieved. She wasn’t. 

With each akuma attack she became more and more frustrated by Chat’s lack of flirting. She couldn’t figure out why she felt this way. Yet she found herself torn. She loved her time with adrien, but she found herself thinking of Chat Noir more and more at night. At first it was just out of concern for the cat. Or at least that is what she told herself. She was concerned that his new personality would affect their well oiled machine of a partnership. That their routine would break down. When that didn’t happen Marinette told herself it was natural to be thinking about her partner as much as her boyfriend. Eventually she realized that she had feelings towards Chat Noir, she had just never noticed them until he stopped flirting with her. It gave her a chance to recognize just how much she liked flirting with him. When he wasn’t anymore it felt like she was missing a part of her daily life. It was a part that she hadn’t even known was there. She told herself that it was no big deal. People in relationships had feelings on other people all the time. Yet, she still found herself wondering if it was normal to feel the same electricity when she looked into Chat Noir’s eyes that she felt when she looked into Adrien’s. 

After a few weeks she started flirting with him to see if she could jump start him back into his old self. She told herself that her flirting would be harmless, and that it would in no way affect her relationship with Adrien. Chat didn’t even notice her flirting. She began to get more and more extreme with her flirting. She found herself winking at him. Where he now called her ‘ladybug’ instead of ‘my lady’. She was now calling him ‘mon chaton.’ She would brush her hand against him, poke fun at him, and use random excuses to make flirtatious puns. Yet none of it worked. Whatever had caused Chat to stop flirting was a force to be reckoned with.

A couple of days later Chat Noir mentioned his girlfriend and suddenly Ladybug realized why Chat had stopped flirting. They had been talking about loved ones in their lives while searching for an akuma that had turned half the town invisible. She had mentioned offhandedly how much she cared for her friends when Chat had started talking about his girlfriend. As he mentioned her his eyes lit up. “My girlfriend is so wonderful. She can cook and design clothes. She always knows what to say and is so understanding. My life is so much better with her in it.” He gushed. Ladybug felt jealousy sear in her heart.  _ Girlfriend.  _ She thought bitterly to herself. 

“Just don’t forget you can never tell her you are Chat Noir. It would be dangerous for you. Besides,  _ she, _ would never understand,” Ladybug spat in Chat’s direction. The words came out harsher than she intended. Still she stood by her statement, whoever this girl was she would never understand Chat the way that she did. In the degree of her anger she completely forgot about Adrien. That is until she walked by an advertisement that Adrien had posed for the previous month. Ladybug felt a surge of guilt wash over her. Somehow in the wake of her jealousy she had completely forgotten about Adrien. 

The next day at school she brought him 4 dozen cookies to appease her guilt. It wasn’t enough. She knew Adrien deserved a loyal girlfriend. He was so good and kind and understanding. His loyalty was beyond compare. In the time that she had been dating him he had never even looked at another girl, let alone flirted with any of them. Marinette felt like a terrible person. How could she have been so selfish? She had completely taken Adrien for granted. It was around this time that Marinette realized that she had to break up with Adrien. The thought tore Marinette apart. Despite all the flirting with Chat she really did love Adrien. He was the perfect man, her dream man. Still, she knew it was the right thing to do. She didn’t want Adrien to be stuck in a relationship that she couldn’t be completely loyal in and she had made it clear that this was the case. The way she had been jealous of Chat’s girlfriend meant that her loyalty for Adrien was not as strong as his was for her.

So she decided she would break up with Adrien. It took her weeks to work herself into breaking up with him. It took all of her willpower to convince herself to do it, but she knew it needed to be done. The day she finally decided to break up with Adrien she could hardly even speak to him. Her heart was breaking into a million pieces, and she didn’t know it she could hold herself together. Finally she couldn’t hold it in anymore she asked to talk to him alone and then told him they needed to break up. The look on Adrien’s face made her almost take it all back. The light in his eyes had faded and was replaced with desperation to understand, and eventually sadness. As they conversation continued on all Marinette wanted to do was curl up into a ball and cry. She hadn’t planned on telling Adrien why she broke up with him, but at the last moment she told him. She had told him that she liked Chat Noir. As soon as the words left her mouth she felt ridiculous. When she said it out loud it sounded stupid, especially to someone that didn’t know that she was Ladybug. 

She couldn’t even look Adrien in the eyes the rest of the day. His whole body was shaking, and she sure that he was angry with her. Somehow she had managed to piss Adrien off more than she had intended to. As soon as school ended Marinette fled for home, before anyone had a chance to talk with her. She ran into her room before even saying hello to her mother. Hours passed and Marinette sobbed. She was sure that Adrien would hate her forever, she had ruined not only their relationship, but also their friendship. Nothing would change that. Marinette hardly noticed the hours passed as the sun began to set. Sun beams began to stretch across her bedroom floor, giving it an eerie feeling. A shadow appeared in Marinette’s window, yet still she didn’t notice. Tikki tried frantically to get her attention, but to no avail. 

Marinette didn’t notice anything besides her salty tears until she heard a faint tap on her window. At first she thought it was just the wind, until she heard it again. She sat up in her bed, tears forgotten. Her heart hammering in her chest, she looked around the room for something to defend herself with without having to transform. In the corner of her room she noticed Adrien’s fencing bag. She rolled her eyes realizing that he must have left it there. Silently singing her praises to Adrien she lept over and ripped one of the fencing swords out of his bag. Slowly creeping towards the window she pulled back her curtain and looked out to see a toothy grin staring back at her. She jumped back, fumbling with the sword before realizing it was Chat Noir standing before her. “Hello Princess,” He cooed.


	3. Her eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which chat tries to create a way to have communication with Marinette.

 

Chat Noir felt his heart pound against the wall of his chest. As he looked down at Marinette’s stunned face. The moonlight fell gracefully on her from the full moon outside. She looked beautiful. All he wanted to do was open her window and kiss her. The thought of Marinette was making him go crazy. It felt like he was a starving person that was looking at food through a window. It was all he could do to not pick her up and run away with her, revealing who he was in the process. Instead he stood there in silence, feeling ridiculous. _What am I doing here?_ He asked himself. The past few hours had been such a blur that he had almost forgotten how he came to be standing in her window.

When Marinette had told him that she liked Chat Noir he had almost laughed out loud. Inside he had felt a piece of him snap. What were the odds? For years he had been trying to get Ladybug to fall in love with Chat Noir. He had failed, so he had tried to get Marinette to fall in love with Adrien. Yet it looked like now Marinette was more interested in Chat than Adrien. He felt like the gods were having a poor joke at his behalf. Adrien had never hated Chat Noir so much in his entire life. If he could, he would have wringed Chat Noir’s neck. Instead he had to deal with a laughing Kwamii. Once Marinette was out of view Plagg had immediately started laughing from inside Adrien’s pocket. “You stay out of this,” Adrien muttered to the small creature.

“I can’t help it,” Plagg cackled as he flew up to Adrien’s eye level. “It’s just that you have the worst luck of any Chat Noir i’ve ever seen.” Adrien rolled his eyes, annoyed that Plagg was finding such joy out of his sorrows. He ignored his kawamii and instead turned his attention back to the problem at hand. Marinette had broken up with him because she loved Chat Noir, but he _was_ Chat Noir. If he told Marinette that he was Chat this issue would pass, but he would have other issues to deal with. Long ago it had been made clear to him that he could never reveal his identity to anyone. If he did he risked putting them in danger.

Adrien wasn’t sure what to do moving forward. He knew Marinette still loved a version of him, but how did he win her back. In addition, why had she chosen Chat? It baffled Adren’s mind. He could only think of a couple occasions where his more feline version had met Marinette. It has always been awkward as he had to pretend like he didn’t know her. The most recent time that he had worked with her that had involved a fashion designer turned akuma that had a vendetta against Marinette. Ladybug had had business out of town, so it was up to Chat to protect Marinette. At the time he had been dating Marinette for a month. It had been a frustrating project to say the least. Not only was Ladybug putting other things ahead of Marinette on her priority list, but he also had to protect Marinette without letting on how much he loved her.

He had hardly talked to Marinette, but maybe he had come across as flirtatious. Had he left any hints that he might have liked Marinette while in transformation? He must have, it was the only logical explanation for why  Marinette would have developed a crush on him. There was one moment that Adrien remembered. The two were sitting in a park, trying to avoid the fashion designer until they could come up with a plan of how to capture him. Marinette had found a perch on the ground and had begun picking at the grass around her. The poor girl so so consumed by thoughts that she hardly even noticed that Chat was there. All he wanted to do was hug her, or kiss her, anything to make her feel a little better. It took all his control to stay completely platonic towards marinette. Finally the pain of not comforting her became too much when he saw a couple of tears in her eyes. Chat sat down next to Marinette and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. “It’s going to be ok Princess, I promise.” He had told her. Gently he squeezed her shoulder to show his support. The two had talked for some time more as Chat had tried to calm her down. In the end he had been able to capture the fashion designer until Ladybug had gotten back, but it was a difficult time for him. Looking back this tender moment could have been taken as flirting to Marinette. He mentioned this to plagg, but the Kawamii just laughed. The way that Plagg laughed at him made Adrien feel like he was missing something. He brushed off the thought as paranoia, Plagg hardly knew anything about Marinette.

Adrien had spent the rest of that afternoon debating what to do next. Plagg suggested Adrien find a way to make Marinette hate Chat Noir. He could act like a jerk whenever he saw Marinette as Chat Noir and make her feel like he hated her. Adrien glared at Plagg, “There is no way I would ever do something like that to Marinette,” Adrien told him. He debated simply trying to win Marinette back, but he already knew how impossible it was to win Ladybug’s heart. It would be no less simple with Marinette. This left Adrien with only one option. He would have to date Marinette as Chat Noir. The thought seemed to make Plagg almost cry he was laughing so hard. Something about this situation was simply hilarious to Plagg, but Adrien didn’t have time time or energy to figure out what made Plagg click.

Instead he decided it was time to go pay Marinette a visit as Chat Noir. He transformed and eagerly leapt out his window headed towards Marinette’s house. He nearly missed her house he was brimming with energy. He was sure if plagg would mock him for it later. He landed against her bedroom window, feeling slightly creepy as he looked in to see if he could spot marinette. She was in her bedroom, her lights was dark. Chat could make out a discarded bookbag next to her bed, completely unopened, despite the mountains of homework they had been assigned for the evening. He lept down to her window and looked into her room, a smile plastered across his face. He felt utterly stupid. He waited a beat, then tapped at her window. A moment passed as he watched a flustered Marinette inside, fumble around, grab a fencing sword- _his fencing sword-_ and appear at the window. Without thinking he spoke “hello princess,” he murmured, reusing a nickname he had given her a couple years ago. He felt completely ridiculous, as Marinette’s mouth hung open in shock. A beat passed before either of them moved, finally marinette realized she had been standing there with her mouth hanging open.  

She stumbled over her words for a second before finally saying “Chat Noir.... What a surprise. Why don’t-- Why don’t you come in?” The poor girl was flustered out of her mind, which for some reason made Chat smile. It was the same way she had acted around Adrien when they had first started dating. He chuckled and stepped into her bedroom. It looked exactly the same as the last time he had been over, his fencing bag still sitting right where he had left it. For a moment it felt like just another day, then he remembered it was different. He wasn’t Adrien, he was Chat Noir. Chat shook his head a couple times, trying to concentrate on the matter at hand. It was becoming abundantly clear to him that he hadn’t thought this whole situation all the way through. Of course he was planning on winning Marinette back as Chat Noir, yet he wasn’t exactly sure how was he supposed to go about doing that yet.

“So uh... What brings you here?” Marinette asked. She was trying to act casual, placing her hand nonchalantly on her desk. She placed her other hand on her hip, causing her to lose balance. The hand on her desk slipped out from underneath her, she fell and hit her chin on the side of her desk. Without thinking, chat began laughing. Marinette knelt on the ground her face turning a bright shade of pink.   
“I’m sorry,” Chat chuckled as he helped Marinette up from the ground. Their eyes connected for a moment. When he looked into her eyes everything felt right. It was like the fates were trying to tell him that this was his soulmate. Chat had used to feel this way about ladybug, but he felt like it was different with marinette. He looked at where Marinette had hit her head, A red mark was starting to grow on her jaw, and Chat could tell it was going to bruise. Gently he placed his fingers to the mark, “you’re hurt,” He murmured. Marinette’s face turned a deeper shade of red as she looked away from his eyes. Chat felt his hand fall to his side as he remembered that he was not dating Marinette in any form yet.

“You never answered my question, Chat.” Marinette mumble, still looking away from Chat, “Did uh.... Did _L--Ladybug_ send you here.”

When Marinette had said the word ladybug her voice was dripping with sarcasm. It was a voice he had never heard Marinette use before. It sounded almost like she resented Ladybug, but that couldn’t be. Marinette’s best friend ran the most popular site about ladybug in the entire city. The two were constantly talking about the masked hero. It seemed very unlikely that Marinette would put up with talk like that if she hated Ladybug. It was more likely that Chat had imagined the sarcasm in her voice. “No, I just came so say hi.”

“Oh?” Marinette mused. She didn’t seem convinced.

“Yeah...” Chat replied, reaching for a reason. He looked around the room and his eyes fell on her latest fashion design. Suddenly inspiration struck, “You-- You see I’ve suddenly become quite disinterested in my current costume. It isn’t as exciting as it once was. I was hoping that you might possibly... could you maybe... Help me design a new costume.” He winced at his request. It sounded stupid even as he said it. Throughout the years Ladybug has made slight changes to her costume, telling chat she had always like fashion design, but Chat had always sarcastically told the press he would change his costume when they invented a material sexier than leather. He joked that his costume was perfect already. In reality Chat just didn’t want to deal with the logistics of trying to design something without his father somehow discovering it was his design.

Chat looked over at Marinette, trying to read the look on her face. She seemed shocked. “You want me to design you a new costume?” It sounded like she didn’t believe him. He cocked his head to one side, trying to look as believable as possible. A few seconds passed before Marinette’s face turned to a smile.

“Well okay then, I’ll make you a new costume.” She smirked. “Though I think you should stick with the leather,” She added as a side note. Chat burst into laughter. The two set an appointment for the next day to start designing the costume. They talked for a moment longer before chat left. He took the long way home, thinking only of Marinette. For the first time that day Chat actually felt hopeful that things might actually work out. His thoughts constantly returning to one thing, her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey chat I have an idea, instead of doing this you could
> 
> tell her
> 
> the 
> 
> TRUTH


	4. Sleepless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette begins to deal with the aftermath of her choice

 

The next day didn’t come fast enough for Marinette. She spent the whole evening pacing the space of her bedroom trying to process how her life had just changed in the last 24 hours. It took her 12 steps to get from one side of the room to the other and within each pass of her room a new reason that Marinette felt like an idiot would rise into her brain. Just the evening before Marinette had been in agony as she had finally convinced herself to break up with Adrien. It had never occurred to her that the next evening the reason for her breakup would be standing at her bedroom window with a desperate look on his face. She had been speechless, and probably looked like an idiot with her mouth hanging open in shock. Her shock quickly turned into disappointment as the cat informed her that he only wanted a new costume design. She could only guess who he was trying to impress. No doubt it was his new girlfriend. Not for the first time she wondered if he had told his girlfriend about his alter ego. Surely Chat would never tell this girl, since he had never shared that information with Ladybug when he had been pursuing her. To be fair though, Ladybug had never let him.

It made sense for Chat to come to Marinette for the redesign. Marinette had changed up ladybug’s costume a few months back-- she had felt like the change to her costume would get her out of the rut she had been in with chat, but it hadn’t solved anything. Instead it had only left her with a new costume and a broken heart. Regardless, Marinette was proud of the way her design had turned out. Her new costume was a darker red than her original costumes. It featured black lines that criss crossed over her and formed a big X on her back where a ladybug’s wings would be. The black lines spread out onto each of her arms that eventually turned her gloves completely black. The black spots on her costumes were smaller and dotted her costume more sporadically than before. All of Paris had been in love with her new design and had demanded to know who had worked with her on it. Ladybug had taken the opportunity to cite herself, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, as the mastermind behind the work. Marinette then watched her following nearly triple overnight. People became much more interested in her work than they had once  been. It made sense that when Chat decided he wanted a new costume he could use the same person that ladybug had used.

It made sense, but Marinette still felt her heart drop in disappointment when Chat Noir had announced that was the reason he had been standing in her window well. Looking back on the way she had reacted to seeing Chat standing there, she felt like an idiot. She had been ready to throw herself at him, the thought made Marinette feel a little guilty. Just a few hours ago she had broken up with her boyfriend, the boy she had been pining over for years before he finally noticed her. Yet, the second Chat Noir appeared in front of her, looking down at her with a sly grin on his face, she had been more than willing to jump into his arms and ride off into the sunset with him. She rolled her eyes at the ridiculous notion and let her knees buckle so she fell backward on her bed. She landed softly, watching her pillows bounce a few times before settling back onto her bed.

Marinette’s life had taken a couple of turns she never had anticipated. For years she had dreamed of the moment Adrien would ask her out. Little did she know where she would eventually end up. It felt like she was a part of some sitcom where everyone could get a few laughs at her predicament. For the rest of the night Marinette ended up staring at the ceiling of her bedroom. She tried to make sense of the course her life had taken, but the harder she tried the more frustrated and confused it left her feeling. Tikki floated by a few times, trying to give Marinette some source of comfort, but Marinette hardly noticed the little kwami. In turn Tikki was becoming more and more flustered with Marinette’s unresponsive state.

By the time morning arrived Marinette had ran through her conversation with Chat in her head no less than 14 times. She had worked through every turn in their conversation that had occurred. No matter which way she looked at her decisions from the previous day she came up feeling empty and annoyed with herself. Marinette was exhausted from the lack of sleep and contemplated missing school to try and get some rest. The thought was the most inviting thing she had felt all day, but it was fleeting. A few minutes after thinking she would skip school she heard her mother call up to get ready for school. Groaning Marinette rolled out of bed and started getting dressed. Her muscles felt stiff from holding one position for too long and it took her longer than usual to get moving for the day. As she pulled a dark green shirt over her head Tikki floated up, and looked at her worried. 

“Marinette?” She murmured lightly landing on Marinette’s shoulder, “Are you okay?” Marinette looked down at the little Kwami and noticed her deep concern etched across Tikki’s face. It was the first time Marinette had really paid attention to what Tikki had been saying all evening. 

Marinette wasn’t sure what to say in response to Tikki’s question. She felt sick to her stomach and everything seemed wrong in her current situation. The whole world felt uneven, like it would collapse at any second. Marinette wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. But she also didn’t want Tikki to worry. So instead, she forced the biggest and most sincere smile she could muster to say “I’m fine,” before slinging her bag over her shoulder. Before leaving she shoved her design sketchbook into her back, with the intention of drafting some ideas during class. She had a couple ideas in mind for Chat’s costume. It was something she had thought about before, back when she had been designing her own costume. She would just have to sketch out those ideas, plus add any new ones that might come to mind. It was her intent that the project might help her make it through the school day without falling asleep.

Her mother called again that it was time to go to school. With an added “don’t make me come up there and get you,” from her mother marinette quickly made her way downstairs. Without talking to her parents she left the home , completely lost in thought as she headed towards school. She was so lost in thought she didn't notice when an alto voice began calling her name. Eventually she placed a hand on marinette’s shoulder causing her to jump nearly a foot backwards. Marinette turned around to see alya standing there, trying not to laugh at Marinette. 

“Girl I’ve been calling after you for like 5 minutes,” Alya finally said. Marinette felt her face turn pink, embarrassed that she had somehow missed that.

“Sorry, I guess I was a little lost in thought.” Marinette replied. “Yesterday was a little crazy.”

“I heard, I’m sorry that you guys broke up. Did Adrien say why he broke up with you?” Alya asked.

Marinette cocked her head to one side, confused. “You heard  _ Adrien _ broke up with  _ me _ ?” Marinette retorted.

“Was that not true?” Alya asked. “Are you two still together?”

Marinette sighed, “No we aren’t together, but I broke up with him.” Marinette almost laughed at the shocked look on Alya’s face. It made sense why Alya would be confused. Marinette had had a crush on Adrien practically the whole time that Alya had known her. More than once in the course of their friendship Marinette had described a daydream of her and Adrien getting married. To Alya it would seem out of character for Marinette to break up with Adrien, seemingly out of the blue. It would be out of the blue to Alya, how could Marinette talk to her about what was going on. Waltz up to her and say  _ ‘hey Alya I thinking I might like both Adrien and Chat Noir. What should I do? Why do I like chat you ask? Well that’s easy i’m Ladybug.’  _

Marinette smiled at the thought of so nonchalantly throwing out that she was Ladybug. No doubt Alya would laugh and then brush the whole conversation off, but the thought would still be there in the back of her mind. The power of suggestion could eventually lead Alya to knowing Marinette’s identity. It was too risky to have any connection lead back to ladybug. Even citing herself as her own designer and telling Adrien she had a crush on Chat had been risky. But in the case of Adrien she felt like he had deserved an honest answer. 

“Well as long as you feel you made the right decision,” Alya responded finally. She still had a look of confusion on her face, but Marinette could tell that Alya was also trying had to be a supportive friend. “Does this mean we won’t be able to sit with Nino anymore at lunch?” Alya asked. There was a hint of worry in Alya’s voice and Marinette immediately feel a wave of guilt. 

“Oh... well I hadn’t really thought about that. But I guess it would really be up to Adrien and Nino.” Marinette responded. The two rounded a corner and entered the school grounds. Alya nodded in understanding, as if to end the conversation. They walked in silence for a moment listening to the sounds of the schoolyard. Many of the people that they passed were looking at Marinette as they passed by. Surely they all had heard that she and Adrien had broken up. Perhaps they had heard misleading information, like Alya, that Marinette had been dumped. A thought occurred to Marinette, “Alya?” Marinette began “How did you hear that Adrien and I broke up, if the news had been misleading who told you?” She asked.

Alya smiled to herself sheepishly, “You know in hindsight I should have known it was faulty information. Chloe has been talking about it passionately since yesterday. She’s convinced now that the two of you have broken up she might have a chance with her ‘Adrikens’ again.” Marinette rolled her eyes, she should have known that Chloe had somehow gotten ahold of the information that she and Adrien had broken up. No doubt the whole school was now talking about it. It was no wonder that the whole school seemed to be looking at her as she passed them by.

It wasn’t much longer that Marinette saw Chloe off in the distance. As soon as the two made eye contact Marinette knew things were about to get awkward. Chloe came strutting up to Alya and Marinette in her new pair of stiletto Louboutins.Her heels clacked against the ground and she quickly closed the gap between them. “Poor poor Marinette,” Chloe smirked “I hear that Adrikens finally got his sense back and dumped you. I’m sorry it ended so poorly but I don’t know what you were really expecting to happen. You were nothing more than a distraction to him. You never could have been anything more than that.” Marinette heard Alya gritting her teeth, surely trying to hold back punching Chloe since they were in a public place. Marinette placed her arm on Alya’s arm to try and calm her down before turning to Chloe. Chloe was still blathering on about how Marinette and Adrien never would have worked together. How they were a dreadful couple and how Marinette should be just as relieved as everyone else that it ended. 

Marinette felt pain in her chest from the whole conversation. She was preparing to respond when a voice spoke up behind her. “You are obviously very misinformed Chloe,” The voice said, “she broke up with me, not the other way around.” The trio of girls spun around to see Adrien standing there. His arms were folded with a look of annoyance on his face. He had dark circles under his eyes, making it seem like he had had as sleepless a night as Marinette had. Guilt and dread washed over Marinette looking at him. It was her doing that he looked this tired, that he had dark circles under his eyes. It was all because she had fallen for two boys. From beside her Chloe huffed defensively, her cheeks flushed red. “Well then if Marinette broke up with you she is stupid and made the biggest mistake that she could have.” She spun quickly on her heels and stalked away angrily. Her heels again clacking on the ground harshly.

Adrien placed his hand on Marinette’s shoulder and asked, “are you okay?” Marinette nodded. She tried to respond, but the words got caught in her throat. “Good” Adrien said, in response to her head bob. His hand left her shoulder and he turned to walk away, not saying another word. He left Alya and Marinette standing in the hallway with their mouths hanging open, trying to process exactly what had happened. Marinette’s head was spinning and her skin tingle where Adrien had placed his hand. A year ago Marinette would have melted from the touch, just a couple days ago it would have felt natural, but she wasn’t sure anymore what is touch meant and what it meant to her. So instead she she stared at Adrien as she walked away, trying to sort out her own heart. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow would you look at how long it has been since I wrote a part for this. I apologize it took so long to get up, but in my defense i have been a full time employee and college student. Well anyways, here I am back with another part. I hope you enjoyed it.


	5. Limelight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chloe gets her vengeance in an interesting way

 

Adrien felt like his heart was going to burst as he walked away. He had seen the distraught look on Mari’s face and had wanted nothing more than to stay and comfort her. All he wanted to do was collect her in his arms and just hold her. His heart ached for her in ways that he had never experienced before. Despite his plan moving forward he still ached for her. She had looked exhausted, just like he felt. No doubt his visit as Chat last night had not helped her sleep patterns at all, but he hadn’t been able to contain himself. He had needed to get things in motion. His plan moving forward was slowly build up a friendship between her and Chat before asking her out again. Adrien dejectedly ran his fingers through his hair as he turned into class. He could almost feel Alya and Marinette staring at the back of his head. Surely they could see through his cool facade and could tell that he was dying on the inside. He had tried so hard to act completely fine, but he was a model not an actor. 

He walked into class to see Chloe seated there with her hands placed firmly in her lap. She had a look on her face that resembled that of a child that had received a firm talking to from their parents. She roughly pulled her phone out of her purse and began to type furiously. There was now a look of determination on her face that could only be bad. Adrien ignored her and instead sat down next to Nino, avoiding eye contact with him. No doubt his face would be a mix of pity and confusion, a look that Adrien wasn’t really in the mood to deal with. Instead he focused on trying to not make eye contact with Mari as she entered the room. Yet, even as he intended to not look at her his eyes must have had a mind of their own because he kept glancing at her. That year Mari and Alya had sat in front of Adrien and Nino, making it all too easy for Adrien to bore a hole into the back of Marinette’s head from staring at her too long.

Class moved by at the pace of a snail. Instead of paying attention Adrien began to plot what he was going to say to Marinette as Chat Noir. His heart began to beat faster just thinking about hanging out with Marinette, making Adrien immediately feel ridiculous. He had been dating Mari for months, he didn’t need to feel nervous around her. Yet, the situation had changed. Instead of Marinette and Adrien it was now going to be Marinette and Chat Noir. It was an odd concept, even thinking about it. Adrien had never dated anyone as his alter ego. He wasn’t even sure how it would work since he spent the majority of his time that he was transformed fighting the akumatized victim of the week. It would be difficult to make things work between the two of them, but Adrien knew he had to try. He was sure he could find some way to make things work between the two of them, he just had to try hard enough and he was sure everything would work out.

He was still lost in thought when class ended. He didn’t even notice everyone around him packing up their materials until Nino nudged him. “Dude snap out of it, class is over.” Nino murmured. “It’s time to go.” Adrien nodded numbly. Somehow he had zoned out for several hours during a lecture. Their senior capstone project was quickly approaching and Adrien should have been paying more attention. Instead he was so wrapped up in his own personal dilemmas he had missed all of the lecture. He would have to borrow Nino’s notes later to make sure that he was all caught up. 

Marinette was also pushing her things into a bag, her notebook filled not with notes, but with sketches. Page after page of sketches of costume plans for Chat Noir. Without thinking Adrien commented on the sketches “those look nice,” he smiled. Adrien watched Mari’s body immediately stiffen and her face turn red. He regretted saying anything as she stammered through a thank you. Obviously both parties felt embarrassed, no doubt she felt guilty that Adrien had seen the sketches. They were obviously for Chat Noir, and Mari had no idea that Adrien already knew that she was working on a project for Chat. So it was quite obvious that she was feeling sheepish about her sketches. Adrien wanted to tell her it was alright, that he was fine if she liked Chat Noir, but she would most likely just end up more confused. So instead he just remained silent.

In the end he wouldn’t have had much time to say anything anyways as Chloe was walking up to Marinette’s desk with a determined look on her face. Immediately Adrien felt a pit in his stomach that seemed like it was going to eat him from the inside out. Chloe had a wicked grin on her face, as if their earlier conversation was all but forgotten. Adrien knew Chloe better than that, so he eyed her suspiciously and muttered, “what did you do?” In a menacing voice. Chloe placed a shocked hand over her chest and laughed darkly before responding,

“Why adrien, I haven’t even said anything yet. I was just coming over here to tell Mari I cleared the air. I told the press that she broke up with you. Now all of Paris will know the truth,” Chloe smirked. “Enjoy your time in the spotlight, Marinette.”

Adrien turned to look at Mari, who had completely paled, “you told the press!” She practically screamed.

“Oh, but of course. I didn’t want to keep anyone confused as to who had done the breaking. Though, I worry what all of Adrien’s fangirls will say. Plus I hear the press is armed and ready to talk with you about why you broke up with the most sought after person in our age group,” Chloe responded. She winked at Adrien as if to flirt, but his frown was so deep that she quickly turned her attention back to Marinette.

Marinette was so speechless she couldn’t respond. Adrien watched her open and close her mouth a few times before giving up entirely. Although she looked angry, Adrien could tell that Marinette was on the verge of tears. The poor girl did whatever it took to avoid showing up in the papers, which was difficult to do when you were dating a model. Yet, she had somehow made it work. The two of them had hardly ever showed up in the papers, so the general masses didn’t even know the two were together. They did know that the two had broken up.

Adrien felt his fist clench as he wanted to shake Chloe and ask her what her problem was, but he restrained himself. He didn’t want to make things any worse than they already were. So instead the two watched as Chloe walked away her hair bouncing back and forth. It was clear Chloe was proud with the way things had gone. “I wanted to slug her,” Adrien murmured to Marinette. She turned to look at him and he noticed that now she really was crying. Tears clouded her pale blue eyes, causing Adrien to instinctively pull her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around him as she began to sob. 

Between cries she said to him, “The press is going to drag me through the mud, but maybe this is what I deserve. I mean look at all the messes I created. I was selfish Adrien. I’m so sorry.” She continued to cry and Adrien just held her. No matter how he could have responded it just would have hurt her more. 

Eventually her cries subsided and the two released from their embrace. Adrien watched Marinette as she stared sheepishly at the ground, “thank you for being here for me Adrien. I know I hurt you, and you don’t have to put up with this. So thanks for being such an amazing person.” Her feet shifted from one side to another and he could tell that she felt nervous. It felt like she would stay a nervous ball of energy forever if he didn’t say something. He placed his hand on her shoulder calmly and smiled at her.

“I will always be here for you,” He told her, hoping she could tell it was true. Even if his plans to win her back as Chat Noir didn’t work he would always be there for her. Marinette was an amazing person and friend, and Adrien didn’t want to lose that just because they might not be a couple. His sincerity seemed to hit Marinette because she smiled at him thankfully before walking away. 

Without thinking Adrien called after her, “will you be sitting with us at lunch today?” He asked excitedly. Surely it had been a point of concern for Marinette, and Adrien wanted to make sure she was still welcome to sit with them. 

“I think i’m going home, actually.” She responded. “I just need some time to think.”

“Fair, well do you want me to walk you home?” He asked, and immediately he wished he hadn’t asked because she began to awkwardly look around the room. So he added, “it’s fine if you just want to be alone, though.”

Marinette nodded, “I think that would be for the best. I just need some time to be alone.” 

“That’s fine, I... I understand.” He told her. She smiled thankfully at him one more time before leaving the room.

Adrien watched her walk out of the room with a heavy heart. Everything seemed to be spiraling out of control in a direction that neither he nor she could have anticipated. Now that the media was involved Adrien was fearful what would happen next. It was only a matter of time until tabloids like paris-match showed up at the school or her home. No doubt, they would bombard her with pictures and questions. What she needed more than anyone else was someone to be with her. Adrien sighed as he looked out the window in the classroom. Expecting to see Marinette walk out any moment. He wanted nothing more than to be there for her, but he tried to hold the feeling in instead and looked out at the people below.

Down below a few paparazzi had already formed. Adrien felt a fire inside of him just looking at the people below. There were more people than he thought there would be. Chloe’s influence with the media must have really paid off. All he wanted to do was go down there and shoo them all away, so Marinette could have a peaceful walk home. It was already too late for that though, as only moments later Marinette came walking out of the school. People shouted her name and asked her questions, but she didn’t answer any of them. She seemed more flustered than anything else as the press swarmed around her. Adrien was almost ready to transform, jump down there and fake an akuma attack in progress when Marinette made a run for it. He watched her sprint around the corner frantically, as if she thought she could outrun the press. For her sake Adrien really hoped that she could, but he still worried that she wouldn’t.

“We’ve got to go after her plagg,” Adrien told his kwami. He was frantic to help her and just be there for her.

Plagg eyed Adrien suspiciously, “How do you plan on doing that? She already asked you to stay behind.” He reminded Adrien.

“You’re right, she asked Adrien to stay behind. However, she said nothing about Chat Noir.” Adrien told Plagg.

“Don’t you dare.” Plagg retorted, “You’ve already filled up your weekly allowance of stupid transformations. Try again next week.”

Adrien grinned sheepishly at Plagg, “Sorry Plagg, claws out.”

Right after he had transformed Chat was ready to follow after Marinette. He jumped onto the rooftop of the school to try and get a better vantage point. He then leaped in the direction he had seen Mari run away in. He looked down the street ready to keep her company, but he didn’t see anyone. An uneasy feeling hit Chat as he realized he had lost track of Marinette. She must have ran away faster than he had realized. If that was the case he would just have to meet Marinette at home. He was ready to leap in that direction when he heard a voice behind him. “What are you doing out here you silly kitty?” The familiar voice said. Chat turned around to see Ladybug standing there, a small grin on her face. 

“I--- I was just,” Chat stammered unsure how to explain that he was using his alter ego to follow the girl he loved.

“Never mind it doesn’t really matter,” Ladybug responded with a wave of her hand, “What matters is that we need to talk.”

“About what?” Chat asked cocking his head to one side.

“About your girlfriend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man I sure do hope that ladybug doesn't say anything that would make things more complicated than they already are. That would suck.


	6. Spotty Advice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug tries to give Chat Noir some advice, based on a guess she has made about his relationship. Sadly, she doesn't really know whats going on with his relationship. Well she does, but she just doesn't know that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all i'm sorry i've been MIA since October of 2017. I have been working on my senior year of college and life had been crazy. Yet now I am a solid week from graduating, so I had some free time to write this. To be honest I didn't know if I was ever coming back to this after the new episodes were released. I was worried it had become irrelevant. You need to keep in mind this is set in the ladybug verse circa early 2017. My timeline has already been set. So you get to join me in that story that I originally wrote. Thank you for all of your continued support.

As soon as the words left her mouth Ladybug wished she could take them back and run  away. She wanted to hide under a rock and not think about the events that lead to that moment. She had been running away from the press. While she’d been running away as Marinette she had spotted Chat and transformed without thinking. Once they had encountered each other she had spat out words without thinking. Everything was happening too fast and she wasn’t sure what to say, but she needed to say something. It was clear her mind wasn’t in the best place and she had been making choices without thinking. She should have thought this through more, but the time had passed. Chat’s face darkened immediately. “What about her?” He asked. He looked protective, like she had struck a nerve by bringing her up. 

“I--- I just. I wanted to make sure..” She trailed off, unsure where to go with her statement. She couldn't tell Chat about her feelings. She still was unsure of what was really at play in her heart. Yet, she also couldn’t take back the topic. It would only make Chat more angry. “I just wanted to make sure you hadn’t revealed your identity to her. You can’t be involved with a civilian as Chat Noir. It would be dangerous for her.” Chat looked at her almost guiltily. “What’s with that look? Did you actually tell her who your were.”

“No, but I was thinking about telling her.” He admitted. 

“Chat!” She responded appalled.

“Look Ladybug, I have to. If I don’t tell her who I am, I might lose her.” He explained. 

His statement confused her. “What do you mean you might lose her?” She asked. Chat didn’t respond. Insead he sat on the edge of the building and let his legs dangle over the side. At intervals he would tap his feet together sheepishly. Ladybug waited a couple of seconds before joining him. She dangled her legs over the edge, suddenly all her anger was gone as she felt pity for the poor cat. “Well if you won’t tell me i’ll have to guess. You disappear at random intervals in the day. Sometimes with little to no explanation when you return. At first she thought it was just a minor inconvenience, but as time went on it started to bother her. She thought there must be another woman in your life, Or maybe you just didn’t care for her as much as she cared for you. Regardless you have created this rift between the two of you, by being nothing more than a hero of Paris.”

Chat looked at her, but still said nothing. She couldn’t read him in that moment, so Ladybug just continued talking. “She might have broken up with you and blamed it on some other reason, not wanting to get into a fight. Or you might still be together, but the distance is ever growing. Whatever the reason you know the truth, as long as you are Chat Noir your relationship will never work properly. So now you want to reveal to her who you are, thinking that will solve the problem you are facing.” Chat looked confused, causing Ladybug to think her guessing game hadn’t been correct, yet there was no going back, there was a point she needed to make.

“I might be right in my guessing, or I might be wrong. Either way you can’t tell her who you are. Deep down I think you know that. You can’t tell her because she would be in more danger that way. We promised to keep all of Paris safe, that involves making enemies. If your girlfriend knows you are Chat she is more likely to get caught in a dangerous situation. Who knows, those enemies could eventually find out and use her as leverage against you. Hawkmoth could akumatize her and learn your identity while he has control of her--”

Chat cut her off “She would never be akumatized!”

“It doesn’t matter if you think that is true. Anyone can be akumatized in the right circumstances. Including us Chat. She could turn and reveal who you are. Then Hawkmoth will know that this is the girlfriend of Chat Noir. He could use her against you.” She paused, letting those words sink in. The night air growing colder as she spoke slowly saying “He could hurt her.” She spoke it quietly, almost reverently. 

Chat didn’t say anything. Instead he hunched his shoulders slightly, his shoulders slightly obstructing his face from Ladybug’s view. She had no way of knowing what he was thinking. Her words might have had no affect on him, but she knew Chat. He was all heart. It was one of the things she loved the most about him. When he cared about something or someone he put his whole heart into it. So he wouldn’t want someone he cared for put into danger. So she waited letting the sounds of Paris at night fill the air. People below them walked by, some carrying out conversations that Ladybug could almost make out. She began to tap her feet together, like Chat had a few moment before. Still Chat didn’t move, his shoulder still hunched over. So Ladybug gently placed a hand on his leg out of comfort. “The life of a Superhero isn’t an easy one Chat. You knew that before you started dating this girl.”

Finally Chat moved, turning to look at Ladybug with tears in his eyes. Slowly he placed his hand on top of the one she had resting on his leg. “ I know you’re right. It’s for the best if I don’t tell her who I am, but I ache to. Ladybug, if I don’t tell her I’m Chat there is no chance for our relationship to succeed. She already broke up with me, and told me why. I just feel like if she knew who I was it would fix all of our problems, but I would create new ones. It would create more dangerous problems,” Chat sighed. He ran his free hand through his blonde hair, as if making up his mind about something he already knew. “I won’t tell her who I am. It’s better that way.” Chat Noir seemed defeated, and it broke Ladybug’s heart to see him like that. It was clear that Chat really loved this girl. Ladybug felt herself feeling even more sheepish for the way she had been acting as of late. She had fallen for someone that was in love with someone else.

So she decided to be better. She would focus on being a better friend, instead of trying to steal Chat from this other girl. If he loved her that much then she wouldn’t interfere. So she decided to change the subject. “In other news, Marinette reached out to me today.” Chat’s head jerked up and looked at her in shock. “You forgot I knew her didn’t you silly kitty. Well anyways she filled me in that you are getting a new suit designed tonight. Is that true? I thought you said your costume was ‘purrrfect’ the way it was.”

“Ladybug! Did you just make a pun,” Chat chuckled, his mood rising a little. “I didn’t think you had it in you.” Ladybug winked at him surprised he’d never made the pun before himself. “Well for your information,” He continued, “I thought it was time for a change. My current costume is getting quite old. In the time I’ve had this old thing you’ve changed your costume several times over. You current one is quite breathtaking, with the mesh portions around your legs. So I thought I would ask the same designer that you used. See if I could spruce myself up.”

“Well I think it’s a great idea. You were in need of an upgrade, It’s been 4 years. I don’t know about you, but this feels like it should have happened 3 years ago.” Ladybug responded. She nudged him with her shoulder, trying to make it clear she was being supportive. 

Chat chuckled, “I’ll let you know if I’ll actually change my mind after my meeting with her tonight. It should be enlightening.”

“Enlightening?”

“Yeah.. It should clear up some questions I have. Let me know if I’m doing the right thing, changing directions with my.. Costume.”

“Well I wish you the best of luck Chat.”

“Thank you Ladybug.” He squeezed her hand lightly. Before standing up. “Now I’ve got to go and get some work done before my meeting with Marinette tonight.”

“Give her my best,” Ladybug told him, trying to save face. He nodded once before jumping away, leaving ladybug to her thoughts. She waited a few moments to begin her journey home. Ladybug didn’t want Chat to see her going in the same direction as Marinette’s home. So it was easier to wait until she knew he was gone. As she lept from rooftop to rooftop she tried to sort through how she felt. Clearly she still had feelings for both Chat and Adrien. Nothing had really changed there, but her conversation had giver her clarity. If she had cared enough for Adrien or Chat she would be willing to sacrifice everything to be with that person. So she knew she just needed time to figure out which one she would be willing to give up everything for. Until then she just needed to keep her feelings in check and not pursue either of them. That is what she firmly told herself, hoping that she could actually convince herself of that.

She continued telling herself that as she slipped onto her balcony to avoid the frenzy of press gathered below her home. The thought was in the back of her mind the entire time she designed Chat’s costume after transforming back into Marinette. She even thought this while she began to prepare for Chat to come over. The thought was there, but Marinette still found herself tempted to put on her cutest outfit. She resisted the urge, reminding herself that Chat had a girlfriend and she was trying to sort her own feelings out. So when there was a tap at her bedroom window she fully intended to keep things professional between her and Chat. She even tried to tell herself that as she saw Chat Noir standing there with a dozen roses and a big grin plastered on his face. For a moment Marinette thought he was blushing and she felt herself again wanting to date Chat Noir.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh Chat.


	7. Roses are Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat makes a choice that changes everything.

After seeing Ladybug, Chat went straight home, his head spinning. He hadn’t been able to see straight since Ladybug had mentioned another reason Marinette had broken up with him. He detransformed as her words ran in his head ‘ _ You disappear at random intervals in the day. Sometimes with little to no explanation, At first she thought it was just a minor inconvenience, but as time went on it started to bother her. She thought there must be another woman in your life....’  _ He walked to the kitchen and filled a glass of water, trying to get Ladybug’s words out of his head. Marinette had told him the reason she had broken up with him. As if on cue the next part of their conversation rang in his head,  _  ‘She might have broken up with you and blamed it on some other reason, not wanting to get into a fight...’  _ Frustrated, Adrien slammed his glass on the counter. What Ladybug said could have been grossly inaccurate, but Adrien couldn’t possibly know. He hadn’t even thought about what Marinette must have been thinking while he was out fighting during Akuma attacks. He simply had gone out to fight and come back thinking that the confusion of the akuma attack would take care of explaining away his absence. He hadn’t even thought that he was doing anything that would upset her. 

“I’m so stupid,” He whispered to himself.

“Well I agree, but I feel it is for different reasons.” Plagg responded from his pocket. 

In Adrien’s frustration he had forgotten that the kwamii was there. He looked down at Plagg who was giving him a dirty look. “How many more times are you going to use your alter ego for selfish purposes?” Plagg asked, “It’s stupid, and what’s more it’s exhausting. I have had hardly enough time to nap in the last few days because you are so broken up about this girl. If the two of you could just figure things out and realize that---”

“Look Plagg,” Adrien cut him off, “I realize my love life might seem stupid to you, but it isn’t to me. Marinette is everything I ever needed. When I realized I was never going to get Ladybug I realized there was something there. She has become THE most important person in my life. Plagg she’s my home and without her I...” He couldn’t continue speaking. There were tears welling up in his eyes. He didn’t want to lose Marinette because some days she was the only thing that made everything better, and without her he was crying. Yet, it had just become clear to him that this situation might be deeper than just her liking Chat Noir. She might feel betrayed by Adrien, something he had never wanted to do.

“Jeez kid, it’s ok. I was just giving you a hard time.” Plagg mumbled. He had flown out of Adrien’s pocket and was now seated on his shoulder. “If you want to go see this girl tonight as Chat I won’t stop you. Just... make sure I get a lot of cheese in my system before hand ok?”

Adrien could see pure concern on Plagg’s face. Something that the Kwamii would surely deny later if Adrien ever brought it up again, but it was nice to know that he really did care for Adrien. So with his Kwamii’s blessing to transform Adrien set to work. First he cleared his schedule with Nathalie, something he was surely to get an earful about later. Then he took a quick stop to a flower shop down the street. If Adrien had ruined things, he was determined to make their relationship work in  a different way. Having an alter ego was almost a gift as well as a curse in that moment. While it was the reason he had gotten into this mess in the first place it was also going to help him get out of the situation. So he picked the largest and most expensive set of roses at the store before checking his clock. Adrien had 15 more minutes before he was supposed to be at Marinette’s so he picked up one more gift for Marinette. Early on in their relationship Marinette expressed that whenever she got working on a project she went through more thread than she knew she had. So Adrien felt like it could be a nice gesture to show up with some thread. He carefully picked out the most premium quality thread he could find. Then he placed it carefully in the bouquet as to be a later surprise. 

So when he arrived at Marinette’s window only a few minutes later he was readily prepared to sweep her off her feet. He saw it as a good sign when he noticed how flustered she got at the sight of the roses in his arms. What he didn’t expect was the next part of their conversation after she had let him in. It started off normal enough, but quickly went into a place that Chat hadn’t been prepared to talk about.

“Oh Chat these flowers are beautiful,” Marinette cooed, taking them from his arms, “are they for me.”

“Of course Princess, only the best for the most beautiful girl in the world,” He purred. Her face quickly growing to a darker shade of red. She placed the flowers on her desk, turning her back to him. Marinette’s shoulders were hunched over, her hands placed firmly on the desk, on either side of the roses.

“You can’t possibly think that about me,” She responded without turning around. 

“Oh but I do,” unnerved with the fact that she was looking away he took one of her hands and spun her so she was looking at him, “You are more beautiful than the stars.”

Marinette stared deep into his eyes for a moment, not saying anything. There seemed to be this electricity between the two of them. It was so familiar to the connection Chat felt with her as Adrien, yet it was so different. She looked at Chat for a few more moments and then shook her head. “You can’t think i’m the most beautiful person because Ladybug...”

“Ladybug and I are never going to happen,” Chat informed her matter of factly.

“That’s not what I was going to say Chat.”

“Oh?” He cocked his head to one side. If that wasn’t what she was thinking about Chat was at a loss for where her head is. “Well then tell me, what were you going to say.”

“Ladybug-- last time she was here for uh, a fitting. She told me that you were seeing someone. She sounded so happy for you. She made it sound like this girl was special to you. Like you would do anything for her.”

Chat was dumbfounded. He hadn’t expected Ladybug would have mentioned his girlfriend to Marinette. For starters his girlfriend WAS Marinette. Ladybug had been talking to Marinette about Marinette. It felt so complicated. Suddenly Chat didn’t know where to lead the conversation. He had had the whole evening planned out. After she had discovered the spools of thread in her roses Chat had been ready to sweep her off her feet. Now if he did that he would seem like a disloyal boyfriend. That was not the best way to start off a relationship that was already destined to be complicated.

“Ladybug had no right to tell you about my love life.” Chat said finally. Unsure of where else to take the conversation.

“It doesn’t matter Chat,” Marinette responded, her cheeks slightly flushed. She sat down on her bed which gave slightly underneath her. “Ladybug told me. So the question remains, why would you think I was the most beautiful girl in the world if you are in love with someone else?” Her question almost made Chat laugh. The whole situation ridiculous. It would be so easy to de-transform. If he showed her he was Adrien all her questions would be answered. She would know the reason he thought she was more beautiful than his girlfriend was because she was his girlfriend. 

His head was spinning, it was difficult to keep up with exactly how complicated he had made it by getting his alter ego involved. If only Ladybug hadn’t told Marinette about his girlfriend.

“Well Chat?” She asked, “What is it?” Marinette looked at him not angrily, but hopefully. He realized she was hoping for a logical explanation. Something that could help her come to terms with why Chat thought she was beautiful and not just a hopeless flirt.

“The truth is Ladybug doesn’t know everything about my relationship.” Chat finally told her. The words came out of his mouth without him fully realizing what they meant.

Marinette seemed floored with shock, “She doesn’t?”

“No.”

“Care to expand why your superhero partner that-- I’m assuming-- you spend countless hours talking to doesn’t know everything. Do you make it a habit to keep secrets.”  She was suddenly very passionate, making Chat squirm a little. Their conversation was not going well at all. He wanted to jump out her window and never look back, but Chat had too much at stake. So he pressed on.

“I just felt embarrassed to talk about it with her, but my girlfriend broke up with me. If you wanted to know Ladybug does know this-- she learned it tonight.”

“Yes but I-- Ladybug told me that you loved this girl. If you did then why would you walk away. Even if she did break up with you. If you really loved her, wouldn’t you fight for her?”

“Not always Princess. If you can tell that she doesn’t love you anymore, it might hurt her more if you try to fight for her. So it broke my heart, but I... gave her up.” 

Chat was lying through his teeth. He hadn’t given Marinette up, and had no intention to. Yet, it was an easy lie and she seemed to believe it. Her shoulders slumped as she was hit with some form of realization. Before she could say anything he continued. “Which brought me to you Marinette. You are right, I still find my.... Ex stunning. But you are equally as beautiful as her. Last time you were involved in an akuma attack I felt a connection between us.” He placed grabbed her hand again, pulling her up from the bed and into an embrace. “And I think you felt it to.” It felt nice to have Marinette again in his arms. The days before had been some of the worst of his life, without her by his side. To have her so close again was amazing, but the moment didn’t last. She quickly pushed away. Her hand was pressed to her temple, as if she was confused or flustered.

“I need some air.” With that she exited the room and went out onto the balcony. Leaving Chat in her room more than a little flustered. “Just breathe.” He whispered to himself before joining her on the balcony.

She was leaned up against the railing, looking up at the stars. The streets below were empty, the press having packed up and gone home for the night. Chat sighed a little sigh of relief. He was unsure why they had given up hope so quickly, but he was glad that they had. With no signs of the press he went and stood next to Marinette. She looked at him briefly before turning her attention back to the stars. Chat could tell she was crying, but trying very hard not to show it.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered. “I went too far. I thought that we were on the same page. I thought-- that you liked me.”

“Chat, I do like you.” Marinette murmured so quietly for a second Chat thought it was his imagination. “It’s just that I also still have feelings for someone else.”

Chat’s stomach did a flip, “Oh? Who?”

“My-- my ex boyfriend. You’ve probably seen the tabloids by now. My ex boyfriend is Adrien Agreste. I still have feelings for him. I just don’t feel like I can date either one of you when I have feelings for the other.” 

Chat began to laugh out loud. The whole situation was ridiculous and he couldn’t hold it in anymore. He was sure Marinette thought he was crazy, but mostly he felt relieved. She had feelings for both Chat and Adrien. She liked both sides of him. 

He looked at her, she was smiling at him. The type of smile you gave someone who you think is trying to be a good sport. “I’m sorry I just found it funny how perfect that is.” He told her.

“You what?”

“Well think of it this way, we both have feelings for each other and our exes. The way I see it we are the perfect match for each other right now.”

“Chat I don’t know I--” He didn’t let her finish. Instead he pulled her into his arms again. She immediately got quiet, her cheeks the same color as the roses on her desk.

“Look you don’t need to decide right now. I can come back tomorrow, and actually pick up my costume design while I’m at it. For now I’ll leave you with this to think about it.”

 

Then he kissed her. It was again so familiar to the way he felt when kissing her as Adrien, but it felt like there was something else there. A deep spark that Chat couldn’t quite pinpoint. As they kissed he felt Marinette go soft in his arms, as she kissed him back. Finally he let go. She looked as flustered as Chat felt. He winked at her once before jumping off of her balcony, leaving her standing there red as roses.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welp. That's just great Chat. Kissing her isn't going to make things more complicated. Nope.


	8. Caught

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette tries to sift through her feelings for Chat, only to be rudely interrupted by some news Chloe has.

Marinette had kissed Chat once before, while she was Ladybug during the Dark Cupid incident. Looking back that could have been a turning point for her feelings for Chat, but she just hadn’t noticed it. So when Chat had kissed Marinette on her balcony, she had expected the kiss to feel familiar. It had, but not in the way she expected. Their kiss felt nothing like the Dark Cupid kiss, it was more electric with more feeling. When his lips had touched hers she felt like she was on fire. Despite the cool fall air Marinette felt her face burning even thinking about it. She pressed her fingers daintily against her lips, attempting to sear the memory of his lips against hers into her brain. 

As she was thinking about her kiss with Chat, Adrien popped casually into her brain. One moment her brain was filled with nothing but one passionate kiss, the next she was thinking of Adrien. She didn't know why her brain had made that connection, but it didn't matter the damage was done. What she had said to Chat was still true; while she had feelings for both Adrien and Chat it felt disloyal to date either one. The kiss hadn't changed that. Still, Chat had made an interesting point. Both she and he knew the other had feelings for their respective exes. Everything would be on the table. She let a thought slowly slide through her brain  _ Perhaps... _

The thought stayed with her all night growing stronger and stronger.  _ Perhaps it could work. _ She shook her head trying to concentrate. Before school that morning she put some finishing touches on Chat’s costume design before heading off to school. The thought was still strong in her mind, becoming as steady as a drum.  _ Perhaps it could work. Perhaps it could help me make a decision. Perhaps it will be exciting. Perhaps. _ She was so lost in her thoughts she didn't notice when she arrived at school. Her feet had gone on autopilot and had led her to the correct place. Looking down at her watch Marinette noticed she was earlier than usual so she sat down on a bench in the courtyard. She pulled out her sketchbook and tried to drown out all the  _ perhaps  _ thoughts. Instead she focused on the way her sketch pencil moved across the paper. The scratching as the graphite curled around the page. She focused on the shapes she was making on the paper. It wasn’t until several moments later that she saw a figure standing over her.

She looked up to see Adrien standing there, a smile on his face. Like always he hair was perfectly done, not a stray hair out of place. The rising sun framed his hair in a way that made it look almost like a halo. In other circumstances she would have laughed at how perfect he looked. Instead she was too distracted by how giddy he seemed.  He looked genuinely happy to see her, as if everything that had happened the last possible days hadn’t happened. “Good morning Mari,” he beamed. There was almost a twinkle in his eyes, something that Mari hadn’t seen since she had broken up with him. Needless to say she was quite confused. 

“Sure,” She replied patting the space next to her on the bench. He plopped down and looked at her sketchbook, a small grin still on his face. He looked like a kid that had just woken up on Christmas morning, like all his dreams had simultaneously come true. “Why are you so giddy?” Mari asked, hoping that it was something good. Something that would get her mind off of the continuous strings of phrases starting with the word  _ Perhaps _ . That had been bothering her all morning. As if Adrien’s presence alone hadn’t been enough to stop it.

“Oh uh.... No reason. That is to say-- What is it you are sketching? They seem a little bit more abstract than your usual stuff, are they for your capstone project?” He asked casually. Marinette suddenly felt like she had been hit by a truck. She had been so caught up in Adrien vs Chat the past few days she had forgotten that she was supposed to submit a plan for her capstone project before the end of the week. Which, incidentally, was tomorrow. “You forgot too didn’t you?” Adrien chuckled. He ran his fingers through his hair before looking down at his shoes, the twinkle had slightly seeped out of his eyes. “Truth be told, my mind has been on other things the past couple of days.” He mumbled. 

Marinette felt a pang in her chest, the  _ Perhaps _ ringing in the back of her head immediately silenced. Again, she hadn’t been considering Adrien’s feelings. Guilt wrapped around her heart with its ghostly fingers. How could she think so freely about her relationship with Chat when she had just thrown such a large bomb at Adrien he couldn’t even focus on his capstone project. She should have known something like this would happen. Truth be told she did know something like this would happen, but she had forgotten. She wanted to tell Adrien she was sorry. To tell him she wished there was a way to make him and Chat the same person. Instead all she said was, “Yeah I guess we'll just have to come up with our ideas before tomorrow.”

Adrien nodded. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something more when a voice rang out from the other side of the courtyard. “I can NOT believe you are hanging around that harlot Adrikens.” The cold voice called. Marinette watched Adrien’s shoulders fall. The light in his eyes completely dead. Not even a hint of the smiling boy that had been there mere seconds before. Marinette didn’t blame him, she felt the same dread filling her body. Chloe seemed to have that effect of people. Sure enough, when the blonde strutted up to the two of them Marinette felt a wave of darkness flow over the area.

“Chloe--” Adrien started through gritted teeth, but Marinette held up a hand to stop him.

“It’s ok,” She said to Adrien, before turning to Chloe, “You know, i’m perfectly aware that you are jealous that Adrien and I dated. It probably makes you mad to see us talking so soon after the breakup, but that is what decent people do. Talk.” Marinette tried to lace her words with as much apathy as she could muster. She thought for sure it would give Chloe off their backs.

She thought that, until Chloe smiled at Marinette. Which in itself, was almost unearthly. “I’m not talking about the breakup Marinette. That isn’t what makes you a harlot.” Chloe practically chortoled.

“You aren’t?” Mari and Adrien replied in dumbfounded unison. Marinette couldn’t fathom what else Chloe could possibly be talking about. It was the only thing she could have possibly done that Chloe could hold against her.

“Nope,” Chloe continued. She dragged out the word, waiting for someone to ask the next obvious question.

“So... Chloe. What are you talking about then?” Adrien supplied, casting Marinette a glance. For a moment Marinette felt like just walking away. Chloe had nothing that she could actually use against Marinette to get to Adrien. Chloe was just too blind or dumb to see that.

Chloe chuckled, as if sensing Marinette’s thoughts. “Oh dear sweet girl. It’s as if you’ve completely forgotten what you’ve done.” There was a smug smile plastered across Chloe’s face, making it clear she believed she had won. That whatever ‘juicy story’ she had managed to drag up about Marinette would ruin her forever. Marinette knew she had done nothing that Chloe could possibly know about so instead Mari just smiled. She let chloe have her moment, knowing in no way could it make anything worse. In truth Mari had done that all on her own. She had ruined her friendship with Adrien. It was true that they still seemed to be on friendly terms, but nothing would ever be the same again. So she just let Chloe have her moment, knowing there was nothing at all that Chloe could do. 

That’s what Marinette thought until Chloe whipped out the latest copy of La Figaro-- the most popular newspaper in Paris. As soon as Mari saw it, she felt dread fill her stomach. She turned to look at Adrien, to see what damage had been done. He was busy studying the cover of La Figaro, almost like he didn’t believe exactly what he was seeing on the page. Marinette wanted to rip the newspaper out of Chloe’s hands. She wanted to take it and rip it into a thousand tiny pieces. Adrien looked over at Marinette, his green eyes looking deep into her soul. She felt like she was on trial, and Adrien was the judge. “I told you, you are a Harlot.” Chloe ginned at Marinette. She waved the paper back and forth, making sure both of them had seen it. The words clear as day.  **CHAT NOIR HAS A NEW GIRLFRIEND.** With a picture of Chat and Marinette kissing underneath.  Marinette felt like she was going to be sick. Suddenly the thoughts of perhaps didn’t seem to matter. All that mattered was the fact that now all of Paris would know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, its been a few months again. Sorry. I finally graduated from college. I finally am an official adult. Or hopefully i soon will be.
> 
> Anyways hope you enjoy this. This whole plot point is leading up to one of the original ideas I had when plotting out the story. So enjoy!


	9. The Avenger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir and Marinette's kiss has unintended consequences as a new Akuma named the Avenger appears. One who's sole mission is to kill Marinette.

Adrien felt sick to his stomach. He had successfully made Mari’s life even more complicated than it needed to be. Beside him Marinette paled and looked like she too was sick to her stomach. Guilt overwhelmed Adrien as he began to realize just how selfish he had been, acting as Chat Noir he had placed Marinette in an impossible situation. He knew he would have to find a way to make it right, but for the moment he needed to reassure Mari that he wasn’t mad. So he smiled at Chloe, flashing two rows of perfectly white teeth. He allowed himself to let his “model face” fall over him like a mask. For any that knew him the smile was fake, and although Chloe was many things she had once been his only friend. As such she realized right away his smile was fake. He watched her grin slowly fall before he said, “What a terrible photoshop job. I’ve seen better work from my 80 year old Great-Aunt, and she’s blind. Really Chloe why do you have to attack poor Marinette in such a way when it is obvious that this is mere play. Obviously a publicity stunt because  _ someone _ told the press yesterday that Mari and I were on a break. Honestly I think you are the one to blame. I think it’s clear you are simply jealous, but you and I both know that Mari is still my friend. Please stop treating my friends in such a way.” 

Beside him he felt Mari relax slightly, his words having their intended effect. Both he and she knew the photo was in fact real, but no one else did. By lunchtime he would have a horde of renowned photographers publicly showing their disgust for the simly terrible photoshop skills in the picture. La Croix would have no choice but to recall the papers or issue a apology the next day. It was one of the only perks of being a pawn in his father’s fashion empire, the ability to make a problem like the one before him go away. His words had their intended effect. Chloe angrily shoved the newspaper into her bag and stormed away, defeated. He hoped his words would keep Chloe far away from Marinette as possible. 

He turned to Mari who was looking Adrien up and down in confusion. She was surly confused, she knew the photo was real. So it was possible she didn’t know why Adrien had pretended it wasn’t. Before she could ask him any questions Adrien hastily told her he had something he needed to do and ran away, practically sprinting in the direction of the lockers. He didn’t want to get started on the conversation of why he would cover for her like that, because eventually the conversation would end with him admitting he was Chat Noir. That was a conversation he couldn’t afford to have with Mair. Not now that he had kissed her. If she found out that Adrien and Chat Noir were the same person he was sure it would hurt her. So he added another reason to his ever growing list of reasons why he could never tell Marinette who his alter ego was. 

Once Adrien was out of earshot of Mari he pulled out his phone and dialed Nathalie’s number. Frantically he explained that a kid at school had photoshopped one of his friends kissing Chat Noir and now she was in an unstable place mentally. He begged and pleaded with Nathalie to ask for some well know Photographers to publicly shame the horrible photoshop job. At first Nathalie seemed reluctant. Even scolding Adrien for thinking he could use his father’s connections in such a way. Adrien in turn continued to beg in an almost unbecoming way. He promised to work double time on photoshoots to make up for it and finally Nathalie relented, saying she would hold him to that promise. Adrien thanked her, but before he even finished talking she had hung up the phone. 

Adrien looked down at his blank phone screen with a smile on his face. He pulled up Mari’s contact information and quickly texted her.  _ I took care of your newspaper problem,  _ He typed. As he typed he rounded a corner in the locker room, not really paying attention to where he was or where he was going. As he rounded the corner he ran into someone, in the process losing his phone. Adrien watched sadly as it clacked against the ground. Even from his vantage point he could see the cobweb-like cracks that had formed against the screen. Nathalie was going to kill him. He looked at the poor unsuspecting person he had run into to see one of the students that was a grade lower than him. Adrien didn’t remember her name, but she had always been friendly with Adrien when she had seen him in the halls.

“Adrien!” She exclaimed, obviously a little frantic, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t think you would-- that is I didn’t know..” The girl trailed off leaving Adrien to fill in the blanks of what she was saying. More than likely she had been standing there just minding her own business when he had rounded the corner. 

“You don’t need to apologize,” Adrien told her as He picked up his now cracked cell phone and looked down at it sadly before saying, “I was the one that wasn’t looking where I was going. I should be asking if you are ok.”

The girl giggled, “You are too nice Adrien. I should have been paying more attention.” 

Adrien smiled at her before pressing the home button on his screen, it illuminated the cracks, showing him the extent of the damage. In the back of his mind he filed a mental note to tell Nathalie about the phone only after everything with Marinette was taken care of. “Is that your girlfriend?” The girl asked, Adrien jumped a little. He hadn’t realized that she was still there. He had assumed that she would have run off to class after the two had made their  apologies.

He looked down at his phone to see that his background was still a picture of him and Marinette. He had become so accustomed to the background that he had forgotten to change it after the two had broken up. It was a picture of the two sitting on a picnic blanket, right after they had had their first kiss. Marinette had made them lunch and the two had ate in the park. After he had kissed Marinette she had seemed so adorably flustered Adrien had felt the need to take a picture of the two of them. Adrien smiled at the picture and the memories behind it before responding to the girl, “no, not anymore.” He smiled at the girl, hoping she wouldn’t see the pain behind his response.

The girl eyed him in a way that Adrien didn’t understand, “But you still want her to be?” She sounded surprised her smile turning into a deep frown.

Adrien looked at her sharply, “I’m sorry, but I don’t even know your name, even though I know yours.” He told her, assuming the comment would change the conversation.

“It’s Val,” she mumbled. Her face was growing darker by the second and Adrien knew it was time for him to leave. So he told her he needed to get to class and quickly walked away, kicking himself for doing more damage than good in his conversation with the girl.

He made it to class only seconds before it began, sliding into his seat he saw Mari look away when he tried to make eye contact with her.  From where he sat he could almost see a dark storm cloud hang over her head. She had a pencil pressed in the palm of her hand and she scribbled against a paper on her desk. The shapes she made were random at best. A pattern that was possibly meant more to distract herself from what was bothering her more than anything else. 

“Did you get my text?” He asked, hoping to snap her out of it. Instead of speaking Mari simply nodded a couple of times, he head bobbing her signature pigtails with them. “That’s good. You don’t have to worry. By lunchtime this will all be over.” He continued. Adrien smiled encouragingly, even though Marinette hadn’t looked up from the random shapes she was drawing. If anything she seemed to fall deeper into whatever had consumed her. Defeated Adrien turned back around to pay attention to the lesson. It was the second day they were talking about their capstone project. Their teacher was explaining the importance of the project and showing examples of what students had done in the past.

That is when the power went out. At first Adrien assumed the teacher had simply turned off the lights to start some sort of powerpoint presentation. He had been more consumed in worrying about Mari than actually paying attention to what project she had been showing off. For all he knew there could have been some video to go along with a project. Then there was an explosion down the hall. Everyone in the room looked warily at one another and Adrien eyed his Kawamii who had poked his head out of Adrien’s bag. Then there was another explosion, this one taking the door off its hinges. Screams erupted from the classroom as people everywhere frantically fell to the ground.

“Hit the deck.” One person screamed.

“It’s an akuma attack,” another shouted.

“Chloe what did you do?” This question came from Alya. Despite the circumstance Adrien couldn’t help but smile at the comment. It was a sort of ongoing joke that Chloe caused all Akuma attacks, even though the direct number related to her had dropped off in recent years.

Smoke began pouring into the room and Adrien slowly pulled his bag over his shoulder. He was determined to make a break for it to transform just as soon as he could. He looked over his shoulder to see Marinette too had a determined look on her face. It always amazed him how she seemed to become a different person during akuma attacks, as if the adrenaline made her change. In front of him Adrien heard a loud clack, and he looked out from behind the desk to see what looked like a grenade sitting on the ground. He only had time to close his eyes before it went off. A bright light filled the room as Adrien quickly realized that it was a flash grenade of sorts. He felt blinded as he collapsed behind his desk. That is when he began to hear laughter.

As Adrien’s eyes adjusted he saw a girl with long blonde hair standing before the class. She had a simple black mask on and wore a belt that looked more like something you would see in an army base than at a school. Her clothing looked like they belonged in the 1930s more than the present, and she wore a wicked grin on her face. It only took him a moment to realize it was the same girl that he had ran into earlier in the day. 

“Oh no, Adrien did I hurt you?” She asked. He was surprised by how sincere she sounded.

“Uh..” was all he could manage to say.

“That’s good. I was aiming for her.” She continued, pointing at Marinette. A pit began to form in Adrien’s stomach.

“What!” Adrien and Marinette said in unison.

“I don’t even know you.” Marinette continued.

“The name is Avenger.” The girl replied coolly, “Don’t pretend you don’t know why I am here. I am here to Avenge Adrien’s broken heart.”

“What.” Adrien said again. This time deadpan. However, Marinette didn’t respond. Instead she looked at the Avenger in what looked like a deep understanding.

“You’re jealous,” Marinette almost whispered. She pushed herself off the ground where she had been hiding. She took a step towards the Avenger, then another. “I understand you must be upset by what has happened. But--” Marinette was cut off as the Avenger angrily slapped Marinette across the face. The blow was so harsh it knocked one of Marinette’s earrings out. Adrien watched warily as the earring bounced towards him, rolling to a stop right in front of his knee.

“You don’t get to assume you know how I feel,” The avenger told Marinette, “I get to enact revenge. Once you are gone Adrien and I can finally be together!”

It was Adrien’s turn to speak up, “That’s stupid. I am in love with Marinette, nothing you can do will change that.”

The girl looked at Adrien as if confused. Slowly she replied, “I don’t know what she has done to make you so diluted. What I do know is that if Marinette is dead, you won’t have any reason to keep up this charade.” She ripped another grenade off of her belt and threw it to the ground. A bright flash of light again engulfed the room. Fear sliced through Adrien’s chest as he realized what was happening. He reached out to grab Marinette-- to keep her safe, but his hand felt nothing but air. He heard one scream and then the world fell to silence. His eyes adjusted to a room that filled with terrified students on the ground. But there was one student that was missing. The avenger had taken Marinette.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. Get ready for an Adrien freak out in 3... 2... 1... 
> 
> Hey guys! Long time no see. Huge shoutout to some of you for being so supportive as I have gone through the post-college process. After searching for months I finally found a job, and that means I can stop worrying about money. Now that my mental state is in a better place I can return to my writing. Which is exciting because I have a lot of fun writing projects to tackle. If there is a specific type of Miraculous fic you want me to do let me know. Also are there any other fandoms i should try out? Anyways thanks for your support.
> 
> Fun fact val is based off of an OC of mine, and lets just say she has cannon killed someone in her real story.


	10. Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette comes face to face with her kidnapper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What 2 posts in one week?!?!! That's right baby i am on FIRE. I might even get a THIRD part out by Friday.

When Marinette awoke she wasn’t exactly sure where she was, or how she had gotten there. She could hardly see and her head felt foggy, in a way that she hadn’t experienced before. All of her senses felt muddled and it took her a long time to even realize she couldn’t move. It took even longer to realize why. She was bound to a chair, with her hands tied behind her back. Mari could only assume it was rope being used, but whatever it was it dug sharply into her skin. Slowly she looked around the room as her vision came back, trying to make sense of her surroundings. It looked like she was in a storage closet of some kind, next to her was a bookshelf that was lined with paint cans. In front of her was a metal door that was shut tight that looked like it belonged in a prison.

There was no one else in the room with her so she had a moment to compose her thoughts. The first question was how did she get there. The last thing Marinette remembered was the Avenger showing up in their classroom. Things had escalated and the next thing she knew the Avenger had thrown another light grenade. A moment after she had been blinded by light a sharp pain had crashed against her skull, and the world had gone dark. The next thing she knew she had awoken in this room. She sighed, realizing that most likely the Avenger had taken Marinette there to finish her off. The question remained, why hadn’t the Avenger done anything else. The girl had seemed adamant that as soon as Marinette was out of the picture, she would be happy.

Whatever the reason that Marinette was still in one piece, it seemed like she wouldn’t be for long. It was time for a little bit of help from Ladybug.

“Tikki,” Marinette whispered, “Tikki please tell me you are here.” Marinette was greeted by silence, and she quickly remembered that Tikki had been hiding in Marinette’s backpack. Angry with Marinette. Before the Avenger had appeared she and Tikki had gotten into a fight over her current situation with Chat Noir and Adrien. Marinette wanted to come clean to both and explain that she was in fact Ladybug, and tell them what she was feeling. She had told Tikki it was the only way to make things right with Adrien. He had been much too kind to her and he at least deserved the truth. Tikki in turn had told Marinette it was a horrible idea, and that it went against everything that Marinette had decided long ago, when she had first become Ladybug. Tikki argued she should be distancing herself from Adrien, and cutting off the relationship with Chat Noir. It was the best way for her to remain undistracted. The conversation had ended with Marinette had received a text from Adrien saying he had taken care of her newspaper problem.

Looking at the text she was filled with guilt and had simply informed Tikki she had to tell Adrien. After everything she had done to him he still treated her kindly. He deserved an explanation. Tikki in turn had told Marinette it was a bad idea and had flown into Marinette’s backpack to sulk. So when the Avenger attack happened and Marinette was taken, it meant Tikki was not with her. She was alone. Marinette frantically tried to struggle against the ropes that held her as she realized she would have to find a way to escape without the help of her alter ego. As she pulled against the rope it soon became clear to her just how well the Avenger had tied her up, it would take nothing short of a miracle to get free.

Slowly she looked around the room, looking for any way to escape her current situation. She craned her neck around to see if there was anything behind her, but it looked like the shelves were empty. It became clear that the Avenger had methodically picked through the area already, to make sure there wasn’t any way that Marinette could creatively get free. Marinette felt a weight fall on her chest as she began to fully comprehend the gravity of her current situation. A scream bubbled up in the back of her throat, but before it released a thought occurred to her.

For their one month anniversary Adrien had bought Marinette a charm bracelet with glass charms. At the time she thought it had been a funny gesture.  She had wondered who gave their significant other a gift for their one month anniversary. Still she had held onto the bracelet, drinking in the fact that she was actually dating Adrien Agreste. At the time their relationship had been so fresh and new that Marinette had been unsure if it would last. She wore that charm bracelet as religiously as she wore her Miraculous, even after she had chipped one of the charms. At the time she had found it ironic. There were about 8 charms on the bracelet and of all the ones she could have broken she had chipped the one of a glass cat. In truth Marinette had even found it odd that Adrien had decided to include a cat on the bracelet, as if he knew what would eventually lead to their breakup months later.

Even after she had chipped the bracelet Marinette had worn it religiously, although she did accidentally slice her finger on the sharp edge of the chipped cat one time. After their breakup Marinette had forgotten she was wearing the bracelet, so she still had it on. She assumed if the broken charm was sharp enough to cut her finger perhaps it was sharp enough to cut through the ropes that bound her in place. It took Marinette a painfully long time to work her arms into a position where she could manipulate the charm bracelet, and even longer until she found the broken charm, slicing open the palm of her hand in the process. Marinette let out a sharp breath but continued working the charm until it was pressed up against the rope. She slowly began to saw the broken charm against the rope, and proceeded to only get one strand cut. Marinette sighed realizing that it would take her quite some time to work entirely through the rope. She prayed that she would have the time to do it.

As if on cue, it was only moments later the door slowly opened to reveal the Avenger, a wicked smile plastered across her face.  “Oh good. You are awake. Last time I checked in on you i was bored. You looked as dead as a doornail, and that was obviously no fun.” The Avenger cooed, her smile growing as she shut the metallic door behind her. There was a loud clang as the door fell into place, leaving Marinette with goosebumps that ran against her skin. The Avenger pulled up a chair and sat face to face with Marinette, keeping her face steady. In turn Marinette suddenly felt more vulnerable than ever and vigorously began trying harder to saw through the ropes.

The Avenger had a cold look in her eyes that Marinette had never seen with any other Akuma. She felt like she had somehow engaged in a deadly staring contest with the devil himself. The Avenger slowly reached up and firmly clasped Marinette’s chin in her hand, pulling her forward until their faces were only inches from each other. They were close enough together that Marinette could faintly smell lavender.

“You are just a pathetic little girl. What does Adrien even see in you,” the Avenger mused, pressing her fingers down against Mari’s jaw line. The pressure was slow and constant, her fingernails digging into Marinette’s flesh. For a moment it felt like Marinette could no longer breather, and just when she thought she would begin to scream the Avenger released her grip. “Impressive, you have a pretty high pain tolerance. I wasn’t expecting that from a small child such as yourself.” Despite the circumstances Marinette almost laughed at the word Child. The Avenger herself was younger than Mari, it made no sense for her to refer to Mari as a child. Still she didn’t fight back, she simply continued to saw against her ropes with her tiny glass charm. No doubt making her sliced hand even worse.

“No response?” The Avenger rolled her eyes, “Come on, you have to have something on your mind. Spit it out.” Marinette remained silent, finding her own form of silent protest. As the Avenger knew Marinette’s mentality she slapped Mari right across the face, her long nails creating another scratch near her eyes. “You stupid girl, show more respect to your superiors. If it weren’t for Hawkmoth’s stupid orders you would already be dead.” Marinette’s ears perked up at the mention of Hawkmoth. For a moment Mari had forgotten there was another villain in the picture outside of the Avenger. She was her very own kind of crazy that seemed to outshine that of Hawkmoth’s. The Avenger let out a cackle that sounded more inhuman that Marinette wanted to think about, “I can see the question plastered all over your face. I bet you are wondering why exactly we want you alive. Honestly if you are wondering that you are even dumber than I thought you were. Which is surprising because,” the avenger smirked, “I thought you were pretty dumb to begin with.”

Marinette frowned, but her mind was racing as she tried to think of a good reason to keep her alive. She tried to sift through reasons in her brain, and suddenly an explanation appeared in her mind as clear as daylight. The Avenger laughed again, noticing the realization on Marinette’s face. “Oh so you do have a brain behind that pretty face of yours. That’s right there is only one real reason to keep you alive, for now.” She paused letting the _for now_ sink in. “You see Hawkmoth believes in utilizing the enemy’s weakness. It is one of the things I admire most about the sad little man, is his tactics. In light of current events it has become clear that you are currently Chat Noir’s biggest weakness. Hawkmoth plans to use you as bait. We are using a little mouse to catch a Cat and his miraculous.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So,So,So
> 
> The plot thickens.


End file.
